Post-quantum blockchain system and methods

ABSTRACT

One-time-pad (OTP) encryption systems and methodologies are resistant to cracking, even by advanced quantum computers. In contrast to some purported solutions, the required elements of an unbreakable OTP system are preserved under Claude Shannon&#39;s mathematical proof. In alternative embodiments, the invention uses a secure network to reconstitute blockchain systems without the use of asymmetric encryption. Described extensions of these block chain systems are described which enable an entirely new set of applications for protecting privacy, sharing information, performing validations and analysis of data, and creating system actions that are constrained by complex data algorithms.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/797,818, filed Feb. 21, 2020, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,271,724, whichclaims priority to, and the benefit of, U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 62/808,624, filed Feb. 21, 2019, the entire contentof all related applications being incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to encryption and, in particular, toencryption systems and methods based upon one-time-pad (OTP) keygeneration, distribution and use.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The modern Internet based economy is built on the security of publickey/private key encryption systems. These systems rely on asymmetricmath problems that are hard to solve, but easy to confirm via thecorrectness of a solution. A common encryption problem is the primefactorization of a very large number. Solving these types of problemsrequires tediously testing every possible solution until the answer israndomly found. Using conventional computers, cracking this encryptionrequires incredible amounts of time, expense, and computationalpower—making it impractical for the typical hacker. The current systems,such as those used for SSL (Secure Socket Layer) in an Internet browser,are very convenient and cheap to maintain and use. Without thistechnology, it would not be safe to perform financial transactionsonline, and general user privacy would be compromised.

Decades ago, a new type of computer, a “quantum” computer, wasenvisioned that would exploit the quirks of quantum mechanics to solvebrute force problems almost instantly, by examining all possiblesolutions simultaneously and settling on the correct answer. About 10years ago the first proof of concept quantum computers were developed inthe lab. Several years later, a company called D-Wave introduced thefirst commercially available quantum computer. Early versions wereessentially high cost novelties ($10 M each) that would allow companiesto begin developing algorithms that might become financially viablelater. In 2018 D-Wave opened a cloud computing service to the publicusing its latest generation system. As commercial services are nowopening using D-Wave's cloud, there are indications that the technologyis crossing the threshold to economic viability. An exponentially fasterquantum system will be released by D-Wave shortly. Recently, IBM andRegatti have also released quantum cloud computing using a differenttechnology.

Quantum computers hold great promise for mankind by optimizing theefficiency of complex systems like air traffic routes, aiding the designof pharmaceuticals and machinery, and enabling better artificialintelligence—to name just a few applications. This same power alsothreatens to destroy the Internet economy by breaching the asymmetricencryption systems used today. The prevailing wisdom is that for now,the length of encryption keys can simply be increased periodically tokeep up with the increasing power of quantum computers. This is true toa point. Key length has been increased successfully to compensate forgains in conventional computer capabilities. There is also broadrecognition that eventually quantum computers will win out and a newsystem of encryption will have to be adopted. An additional problem inthe interim, is that old messages or transactions could easily bedecrypted by next year's quantum technology.

Once quantum computers have reached sufficient power to renderasymmetric encryption unsafe, Internet purchases with credit cards willbecome unsafe. All online banking will stop. Sensitive personal orcorporate information could not be transmitted with privacy. Remotelycontrolled machinery as well as autonomous planes and cars could behacked into by terrorists. All crypto currencies (such as Bitcoin) relyon asymmetric encryption to maintain their integrity, as do all othercurrent blockchain applications. Much is at stake in replacing currentencryption methods in time to prevent a nightmare scenario.

It is well known that a One Time Pad (OTP) encryption system ismathematically impossible to crack, regardless of brute force computingpower. Therefore OTP is resistant to cracking by a quantum computer. OTPinvolves encrypting a message with an XOR logic operation using a randomkey that is of identical length to the message. Both the sender andreceiver use the same key to encrypt and decrypt the message. If the keyremains secret, is truly random in nature, and is never reused—then thesecurity of the message is assured. OTP was used extensively in WWII forsecure military communications and continues to be used for highlysensitive government and corporate data. Various software programs canbe found on the Internet enabling OTP communication between two users.These applications typically require users to physically meet to share akey.

While fully secure, OTP presents practical issues. First of all, keysmust be the same length as the message and never reused. Thisnecessitates a large supply of encryption keys that must be securelydelivered beforehand between senders and receivers. A different set ofkeys must exist for all combinations of senders and receivers.Additionally, the keys must be truly random—so pseudo-random numbergenerators cannot be used safely. For these reasons, OTP has been pushedaside for public key/private key encryption systems.

It is recognized in the trade literature that adopting a “star network”would overcome the problem of connecting every possible combination ofsender and receiver in a network. A communication could be sent to acentral encryption hub, decrypted, and then re-encrypted and sent to thefinal recipient. This allows every user of the network to maintainencryption keys with the hub only, and still send secure communicationsto anyone in the network—without any prior contact. This type of systemalready exists throughout the public telecom network and Internet, asdifferent transmission protocols encrypt and decrypt data to deliver itbetween disconnected senders and receivers.

In fact, methodologies for using a hub to administer an OTP network havebeen described and patented. Till now, these systems have contained twokey issues. Systems where the hub brokers the messages, rely on thesecurity of the hub—physically, electronically, and in terms of employeeintegrity. As the volume of financial and other data moving through sucha hub increases, the payoff for a bad actor to compromise it becomesenormous. A hub handling financial transactions for millions of userscould have billions or even trillions of dollars of sensitive data atstake—in a single location. A chain is only as strong as its weakestlink, and the practical difficulty of physically securing such alocation would be enormous. Additionally, users of the network would bynature be placing their trust in the administrators of the hub, andwould be giving up privacy in this regard.

Another critical problem in described hub systems is that encryptionkeys and or messages are deleted to minimize long term risk of physicalbreach. Such a protocol could be compromised and replaced by a badactor, without the knowledge of users or even the administrators. Whilethe deletion protocol was successfully carried out, the system wouldpresent a threat to the national security of the United States or othercountries. Terrorists would be able to use such a communications networkto communicate securely without interception by the military or lawenforcement. Since 9/11, western nations have recognized the need tobalance personal privacy and protection from hackers, with an abilityfor governments to track terrorists in extreme situations. It isunlikely that western governments would permit wide scale use of asystem that does not maintain that balance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention, referred to herein as “Quantum Lock™,” resides insystems and methodologies for using quantum resistant one-time-pad (OTP)encryption in a way that resolves the critical problems outlined above.The system preserves the required elements of an unbreakable OTP system(under Claude Shannon's math proof), which some described systems in theprior art do not. Additionally, the invention uses a secure network toreconstitute blockchain systems without the use of asymmetricencryption. Extensions of this block chain system are described whichenable an entirely new set of applications for protecting privacy,sharing information, performing validations and analysis of data, andcreating system actions that are constrained by complex data algorithms.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram that illustrates a preferred embodiment of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Part 1:

In accordance with the invention, random One Time Pad (OTP) keys aregenerated using a true random number generator and placed on serializedUSB flash drives, discs, hard drives, or another data storage device.The flash drives will be sold in stores, automated kiosks, or purchasedthrough mail order. Standard packaging techniques can be used toencapsulate the memory devices to indicate physical tampering. Theautomated kiosks would allow recycling and replacement of old OTP keystorage devices. A universal or serialized physical or electronicmarking would allow the kiosks to identify old devices and acceptthem—providing a recycling credit towards the purchase of new keys.Alternately, a credit system could be established by which a humanconfirmed validity of returned devices. A new device already fullyloaded could be obtained instantly, as in a first-time purchase.Alternately, the kiosk could load new keys onto the returned device—witha passcode system allowing the user to return later to pick it up afterthe download is complete. An alternate feature allows downloading onto areused device, while leaving existing OTP keys (or unrelated files)intact. Users could purchase different volumes of OTP keys. Anotherembodiment of the system of recycling existing devices would incorporatesome human involvement in the download process using a standard computeror custom device.

For the system to be fully secure under Claude Shannon's proof, theencryption keys must be completely random. The pseudo random generators(utilizing a math algorithm) found in many commercial computers, are nottruly random. A preferred method for obtaining random numbers is througha physical apparatus that exploits quantum randomness. An example ofthis is the Quantis device made by IDQ. The servers generating ciphersfor distribution could use the Quantis or a similar product to achievetrue randomness.

The key storage devices (KSD) would be uploaded with OTP keys andidentifying marks (showing it originated from Quantum Lock) at one ormore centralized facilities. These facilities would either generatestreams of truly random sequences or obtain them from other facilitieswith this capability. Transmission of OTP keys between facilities wouldoccur via physical movement of memory devices, or via electronic linksusing OTP encryption. Facilities might periodically physically transfervery large memory devices containing OTP keys for the purpose ofestablishing a link between facilities. Data could then be transmittedbetween facilities over Internet or telecom networks later, without theuse of a physical delivery service. KSDs would then be physicallytransported to retail outlets, kiosks, or delivered directly torecipients. Another embodiment would be for kiosks or retail locationsto have the capabilities to generate the OTP keys on site. In this case,copies of the keys would be physically transported (or send back via OTPencryption) to a central facility. Another embodiment would permitdownload of keys onto a storage device not acquired from Quantum Lock;in this scenario no recycling would be permitted. Still another optionfor the kiosks would be to enable wireless download of keys onto a cellphone, computer, or other electronic device.

Software to manage the Quantum Lock system would be distributed on theKSDs, on a separate storage medium, or downloaded directly over theInternet or telecom network. The software would manage the OTP keys,carry out encryption and decryption, interface with other softwareprograms on the user's computer, and assist the user with long termindexing, deletion, and archive functions of already used keyssequences. The software could be publicly available or might berestricted to subscribers of the Quantum Lock system. Alternately, thesoftware could be customized for each user. The software and or versionupdates might themselves be distributed only via physical transport orOTP encryption to prevent public examination.

Copies of distributed OTP keys are stored in a server hub and associatedwith a KSD and/or a user account. The hub would function as an exchangerof keys between senders and recipients, and as a long-term storagefacility of keys. Multiple hubs might be employed to reducecommunication latency over large geographic areas. Multiple hubs mightalso store redundant copies of keys to protect against physical damageto a single facility (by fire, flood, etc.). Redundancy could also beused to balance load the volumes of data being transmitted by a singlefacility, and to keep the network functioning in the event of atemporary failure at a single facility due to power loss or anothertechnical failure. Redundancy of keys might exist on multiple servers ata single hub facility, as well as non-hub facilities that do notcommunicate with users and are used only for data storage. Users mighthave the ability to communicate with all hubs, a single hub, or a subsetof hubs.

Facilities storing keys would require strong physical and electronicprotections. Internet or telecom access to a hub would be necessary forfunctioning. Servers containing copies of keys might be separated fromthose with access to the outside world. They could communicate over aport governed by software creating a restriction around the port thatallows transmission and retrieval of keys only—and provides no access tothe server operating system. An embodiment of this would physically“gap” the servers, and a memory device would physically transfercommunication between the servers.

Servers would store OTP keys for varying lengths of time based on thedesires of specific users, universal system settings, or based ongovernment mandates. Expended keys might be moved after use, andredundancies could be increased or decreased over time. Users would beable to request copies of old keys (such as in the event of losing a KSDat their home or business). This would allow them to view an encryptedfile in their possession that they could not access because of losingthe key. Copies of old keys could be sent out on a new KSD, uploadedonto an old KSD with adequate free memory space, or transmitted via OTPover the Internet or telecom network. Requests for old keys could occurelectronically with security measures such as passcodes, questions,identifying data such as social security numbers, or biometric security.Alternately, a human could be involved in fulfilling such requests andverifying identity in the same way a bank teller might. Additionalprecautions in releasing old copies of keys might include sending KSDsonly to the address on file of the user. In the event a valid judicialwarrant was presented for a governmental agency to acquire a key, therequested copies could be delivered through similar means and withsimilar verification of validity.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram that illustrates a preferred embodiment of theinvention. When a user (Bob) wants to send a communication, the softwareuses the public Internet to send to the hub the address of the messagerecipient (Alice), the beginning and end location of the cipher (alpha)within the full body of cipher contained on the KSD, the serial of theKSD, and a unique message identifier created by the software. The hubserver then retrieves the full cipher of that particular KSD from thedatabase based on the serial number, and identifies alpha as a subset ofthe full cipher based on the beginning and end points specified. Alphawill be the same length as the message (gamma) to be sent between Boband Alice and will never be reused. Then the server will create a cipher(beta) with which to encrypt cipher (alpha) for secure transmission toAlice. The server will pull the last cipher endpoint from Alice'scurrent KSD cipher and then create beta by using enough subsequent bitsto match the length of gamma. An encrypted message theta is created byencrypting alpha with beta (via standard OTP XOR logic), and theta isthen transmitted via public internet to Alice. Alice also receives thebeginning and end points of the cipher on the KSD, the KSD serial, Bob'saddress, and the message identifier. Bob is then able to send messagepsi to Alice, which is gamma encrypted via alpha (using standard OTP XORlogic). Alice's software decrypts message theta (from the hub) usingbeta to retrieve alpha, and then uses alpha to decrypt psi into gamma.Alice can now see Bob's original unencrypted message.

The address of the recipients could be an email address or another typeof user identifier that exists apart from the Quantum Lock system or isassigned by the system. The messages or data transmitted in the QuantumLock system could be sent via email, FTP, HTTP, another Internetprotocol; or via a non-Internet telecom network, or via direct landlineor wireless transmission using sound, photons, electromagnetic waves, orparticles; or via physical transport on a storage medium.

The software may manage multiple KSDs to create a master cipher for auser that constitutes the sum of all ciphers. This would allow the endof the key on a KSD to be attached to the beginning of the key onanother KSD for efficiency. Keys from multiple KSDs might also becombined and copied onto other (possibly larger) storage devices. Inthis embodiment, a header at the beginning of a master file would denotethe sizes and serials of the sub cipher keys compiled together, asopposed to any marker within the cipher. Should a marking sequence beused inside a master cipher to denote the beginning of admin data, thiswould itself violate the integrity of the OTP system as that sequencewould have to be purged from random keys generated.

The software and hub would also use industry standard mechanisms toachieve load balancing or rerouting between hubs. Error protocols wouldbe created to account for transmissions that are not completed, so thatcipher markers and synced, and messages reprocessed when necessary.Admin data stored locally by the user software could also be backed upfor redundancy at ON Lock hubs. Back up of encrypted messages might bestored at a cloud storage facility unassociated with the hubs—to protectthe separation that is necessary to the system's integrity.

The software could encrypt messages with the appropriate cipher and adda file extension to the name such as “.qlock”. A header protocol wouldallocate a fixed length at the beginning of each file for admin datasuch as the message identifier, sender, and recipient. The softwarewould match this data within a message to an index of ciphers that iscompiled over time through communications with the hub network.

Encrypted files could easily be sent as attachments to email. Over time,interfaces with other software programs (and electronic hardwaredevices) could be developed. For example, all Internet browsers containcapabilities for asymmetric encryption (HTTPS). A so-called plugin oraddon seamlessly replacing the current encryption with an interface tothe Quantum Lock system would allow financial transactions to continueon the Internet, unimpeded by the advance of quantum computers. Entirelynew communication software using Quantum Lock could also be developed.Hardware devices using Quantum Lock could also be developed that sitbetween an electronic device and the public Internet or telecom system(such as a copy or fax machine, computer, router, drone, or anothermachine or device controlled remotely). Such a device might encrypt alldata coming in or out of the protected device, using the Quantum Locksystem; and route all data directly through Quantum Lock hubs. Thiscould be done without any knowledge of the proprietary workings ofsoftware or hardware on the other side of the barrier. For example,Quantum Lock routing device could be attached to a military drone or anautonomous vehicle linking it back to the authorized operators. Thiscould avert a major loss of life or property by preventing a breach by aterrorist or criminal.

The Quantum Lock system allows a message to be sent with full securityover the public Internet without users physically or electronicallyhaving to directly exchange the encryption key. This is vastly moreefficient than having to maintain a different cipher for every possiblemessage recipient. Additionally, the server never handles the message,so privacy and security related to the hub or network administrators arenot a concern.

Hackers could not brute force decrypt any intercepted message that is“Quantum Locked”, even with a quantum computer. They would have toobtain a copy of the encrypted message from the public Internet as wellas the key from the hub facility. This would provide extraordinaryprivacy and security safeguards to private citizens and businesses. TheQuantum Lock system would also protect against hacking by rogue foreignnations. However, governments typically can wiretap their own telecomand Internet systems. Therefore, the US government (or other nation)could obtain an encrypted message via wiretap (as the hub would not haveit) and then decrypt it by presenting a valid warrant to the hub. Thisunique system protects the balance of personal privacy with nationalsecurity, while preventing an economic upheaval or collapse from theadvent of quantum computers.

Part 2:

As mentioned earlier, the demise of asymmetric encryption will makecurrent blockchain applications and cryptocurrencies essentiallynon-functional. A novel approach to reconstitute blockchains is possiblebuilding on the Quantum Lock encryption just described. The system andmethod described herein represent a complete revision, not merely aswapping of encryption schemes. However, it achieves similar objectiveswithout the possibility of hacking by quantum computers. An immediateadvantage over current systems is that the computational power requiredfor functioning is minimal. Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, whilestill representing a very small portion of the world's moneysupply—already use more electricity than a small nation. This representsan inherent economic inefficiency and would eventually createenvironmental concerns as well.

Blockchain technology is revolutionary in that it creates a distributedstorage, processing, and verification system—that is “trust minimized”.Rather than relying on a single institution to ratify a transaction orconfirm information, blockchains provide public ledgers or histories.Multiple, possibly random, parties work together to add to this ledgerby creating blocks of newly verified information that is built on andlinked to already trusted blocks in the public ledger. Error checkingmechanisms exist to rescind bad blocks or bad chains that are laterfound to be inconsistent with the public knowledge. All trust in currentblockchains is placed in the security of the asymmetric encryptionsystems built into the blocks—the blocks are typically tied togetherthrough a mathematical algorithm called hashing. Due to this, the adventof powerful quantum computers might make trust minimized blockchains,the least trusted mechanism for electronic or remote transactions.

In a “Quantum Locked” blockchain, blocks of information are “chained”together using the Quantum Lock OTP encryption system rather thanpublic/private key asymmetric encryption. While a public ledger might begenerally available unencrypted, using the blockchain system forverification or creation of blocks would require being connected throughthe Quantum Lock hub system. A block contains new information that isrelated to a prior block (or chain of blocks); except for a “genesis”block. An example would be an automobile title transfer. The genesisblock in this example would be created when the car is manufactured anddesignate the factory as the owner. As the car changed hands, new blockswould be added to that chain showing the current and previous owners,and possibly many other pieces of information such as repairs andaccidents. A “terminus” block would be the final block in a chain(perhaps when a vehicle is crushed); no further blocks could be added.

Each block would have required pieces of information and might haveoptional fields as well. There might be formatting requirements for thefields based on the application. When a sponsoring associationestablishes a Quantum Locked Blockchain Network (QLBCN), it will haveoptions for establishing these parameters. The parameters could bechanged over time, and so a block might have a field identifying theprotocol version that was used during creation. At the bare minimum, ablock would contain a network id, a block id, timestamp, a pointer tothe prior block, pointers to the “VN Nodes” (VNs) of the old block,pointers to the current VNs, pointers to the current owner of the block,pointers to the next block (when established), pointers to the nextblock's VNs, a field noting genesis or terminus blocks, and one or moredata fields. A VN is an entity responsible for storing and confirmingdata for a specific block, using encryption keys. This is an importantconcept and will be described in more detail later.

It is understood that some fields could be combined using a formattingprotocol. Additionally, or alternatively some of the field data for ablock could be stored in one or more indexes and referenced with theblock id. It is also understood genesis or terminus blocks wouldnaturally not reference prior or future blocks based on their status.

An example of a simple block for our automobile title network would beas follows:

Block Network: 22579

Block ID: 2

Block Protocol: Version 5.1

Chain Status: Mid Chain

TimeStamp: 01/24/19 08:00 GMT

Prior Block: 1

Prior Block VNs: For Buyer—847292, For Seller—283382, For Association293820

Block Owner: 27382

Block VN: For Buyer—962145, For Seller—225497, For Association 328495

Next Block: 3

Next Block VNs: For Buyer—578213, For Seller—4456812, For Association2548

Data: “XYZ Car Factory transfers red SUV, serial 83729289, with odometer87 miles, to Bob's Car Dealership for $32,100.”

Note that the IDs in the fields can be alphanumeric or descriptive textor both—however they must serve as unique identifiers. Note also, thatsome QLBCN's could permit branching or merging of chains. In such cases,the additional prior or future block data would be referenced. Forexample, a blockchain for land titles might need to account for parcelsof land being split apart or consolidated.

Associations creating QLBCN's would have an option to create tiers ofVNs with different levels of permission. They would also set thecriteria for becoming a VN at a certain level and exiting or beingremoved as a VN. Examples of VN levels might include the rights tocreate genesis or terminus blocks, verification of existing blocks only,creation of new blocks, and archival storage of blocks. In someinstances, a VN might need to be a law firm or have some otheraccreditation, or perhaps some verification functions could be done byany random public entity. A system of compensation would also be chosenfor VNs completing different functions (such as a penny for each blockverification performed). Archival parameters could be used to limit thesize of the active public ledger or optimize processing functions. Forexample, active chains might be limited to 10 blocks with older blocksreferenced in the archive ledger(s).

Each block would have at least two categories (but typically three ormore) of VN “chains” responsible for ratifying the legitimacy of theblock data. One or more chains would be categorized as VNs chosen by(and representing the association or public interest). A set of chainswould be categorized as VNs representing each party with involvement ina transaction or with the data in a block. So title transfers forcurrency or physical assets (like cars or land) would typically have twosets of VN chains—one for the buyer and one for the seller. A blockchainratifying multi-lateral peace treaties might have many categories ofVNs, representing every interested party.

The nature of the OTP system used in Quantum Lock ensures that theencryption keys held by VNs can not be cracked by brute force or quantumcomputation. However, the novel system of VN chains representing thevarious interested parties, serves to prevent bribery, corruption, orcollusion in falsifying blocks. While the encryption algorithm will bedescribed shortly, suffice it to say now that an adequate level ofpositive verification must be obtained from all categories of VNs beforea block can be created or verified later. Each chain of VNs will work insequence to confirm or deny a request. The entire chain of VNs mustprovide a perfect affirmation, or the chains “vote” will be considered adenial. By allowing multiple chains of VNs in each representationcategory—not all chains would need to affirm a block in a given request.This would allow for a broken chain because of technical malfunction orslow response by a specific VN.

The QLBCN would have parameters set on how long the VN chains would be,and the thresholds for system verification in terms of the number orpercentage of chains that must respond to ratify a given request. Errorprotocols would also be established for dealing with situations whereboth positive and negative votes are cast, and for replacing corruptchains. The longer the VN chains are and the more required to respond toa request, the more secure the network. This added security alsoincreases the potential processing time for request verification. Anetwork can be designed to create the balance of factors that is bestfor the application. Note that different levels of security might berequired for different sized transactions or blocks of varyingimportance. For example, a block recording the purchase of a cup ofcoffee might only have three VNs per chain, while a billion-dollar stockexchange might require 100. It will be demonstrated later, after theencryption protocol is explained fully, how a carefully designed QLBCNwould make it fantastically difficult to forge false blocks—achieving atruly distributed, trust minimized network.

The public information of the block would contain only the first andlast VN in each chain. VNs connecting the endpoints would only be knownentirely to the owner of the block. This adds a layer of security byhindering bribery of VNs. A VN would also be known to the VN just priorto them on the chain. Each VN would maintain a secret OTP key with theowner of the block, identical in length to the block. When a system userwants to confirm ownership of a block, it will send the block to thestarting VN in each chain. The VN then encrypts the block with thesecret key and transmits it to the next VN. The next VN performs anotherXOR operation on the data with their secret OTP key, and sends the dataon. The final VN in the chain, knowing it is the endpoint, sends on theencrypted block back to the user making the query. If the chain has 11VNs in the chain, the block will be encrypted by XOR operation 11 times.The owner of the block will be asked to release the composite XOR keyfor the entire chain, back to the user. The user will then decrypt thegarbled data from the endpoint of the VN chain with the composite keyfrom the owner. If it matches the block—then this indicates that theclaimed owner truly owns the block as verified by that chain. Each chainwill be queried in similar fashion, and based on the rules of thenetwork, a threshold of agreement can be reached.

An immediate issue that presents itself is that, once a single query hasbeen run; the composite OTP key for each VN chain can be acquired. Thiswould allow a bad actor to impersonate the owner of the block. Toovercome this, the secret key held by each VN and the owner; can bereplaced for each query. As a practical matter, a set of keys could beput in place ahead of time to minimize delays in execution later. Forexample, when a block is created 100 keys could be put in place betweenthe owner and each VN. A counter can be incremented with each query andowners and VNs in each chain could move to the next key in unison. Oncethe cache of keys is running low, then another block of keys can betransferred.

Another embodiment of the system would utilize hidden VN keys that arelesser or greater in length than the block length. Another wouldspecifically use lesser lengths which add up to the full length of theblock, and each VN would encrypt a portion of the block as it is passedalong. In another embodiment the keys would be added together or used toencrypt the prior key in the VN, without performing an action on theblock data (the key coming from the end of the VN chain would simply becompared with the secret key of the block owner).

It is assumed by default that all key transmission and all communicationin the QLBCN is done through the Quantum Lock system to ensure securityof the data. Another embodiment of the system would permit the use of analternate OTP system that adheres to or falls within Shannon Clark'sproof. Another embodiment would permit the use of transmission viaquantum entangled particles such that tampering would be impossible ordetectable (small scale systems have been developed to date).Alternately, a QLBCN could utilize another form of “post-quantum”cryptography that was mathematically proven to be unbreakable (ordifficult enough to satisfy the security needs of an application) byquantum or brute force computation.

While the QLBCN can not be breached by malicious decryption, in theoryvarious nodes in the distributed network could be physically breached orbribed. The sheer number of VN nodes involved in a well-constructednetwork would minimize this risk. One potential point of attack would beto bribe the published end point in a VN chain, while impersonating theblock owner. The end point VN could replace the data from earlier in thechain with data that would match a fake hidden key being presented bythe bad actor. One solution to addressing this is to have rating systemsfor the trustworthiness of entities operating a VN node. For example, awell-established law firm with a security team might be given a higherrating than an individual that has just begun using the system andverifying transactions. Published VNs at the beginning and end pointsmight be restricted to a smaller pool of highly trusted entities.

An alternate method to address the above concern, would be to publishonly the beginning VN in a chain. A user submitting a query would simplyreceive the response back from the end of the chain and would not knowwho to expect it from. This eliminates any published VN from returning afraudulent data set to the user. However, by not knowing the endpoint ofthe chain; it is conceivable that the beginning VN could collude with afake VN (one not assigned to a block) and have them send a terminatingchain data set to the user that matched a fraudulent key presented by afake owner.

If this type of collusion and fraud were a concern, a checksum systemcould be used to verify the identities of the VNs in a chain returninghidden keys or block data encrypted with the keys. In this scenario,each VN in the chain would communicate back directly with the usermaking the query. The user would match the checksum in the public blockdata with the VN identities to ensure that each VN was a legitimatelyassigned to the chain for that block. This would prevent a bad actorfrom compromising, for example, 15 random VNs (out of 10,000attempts)—and then presenting them as a fake VN chain. The systemidentifiers for the VNs would not match the checksum unless the badactor was incredibly lucky. Note that if the VN nodes in the network areall publicly known, then in some cases a brute force or quantumcomputation on the check sum could reverse engineer the correctcombination for a block. Therefore, in this embodiment the checksumalgorithm relative to the methodology for assigning identities shouldallow for numerous potential combinations within a given checksum butthe set of those combinations should be a very small fraction of allpossible combinations of VNs. This preserves the secrecy of the VNs (sothey can not be targeted for compromise) and prevents presentation of arandom set of compromised VNs as a chain. It should be noted that thisvariation would logically require the VNs to be changed after eachquery, and the checksum changed in the public data of the block.Checksums might also be used to describe the content of a data block, orof keys being transferred—as part of standard data transmissionprotocols.

In many of the variations described above, it may be beneficial toperiodically alter the VNs assigned to a block. This could involvechanging only the secret VNs, or might also include the published VNs.Reconfiguration might be triggered by a query on a block, or could bedone periodically system wide based on a time interval. The ledger ofpublic blocks might provide for changing certain aspects over time, suchas a checksum or a VN list, but most likely making these changes wouldrequire creation of a new dependent block. A QLBCN might be configuredsuch that new blocks are continuously being generated at rapid timeintervals—for example every second. If a block had no change ofownership or now new data, it would simply spawn a cloned dependentblock with a new set of VNs. Such a system is feasible given the modernspeed of communication and computation. The difficulty of compromisingthe integrity of a vast network of continually changing VN nodes,protecting a block, would be significant.

Maintaining the secrecy of some of the VNs would make it very difficultto compromise all the nodes protecting a block—because they would beunknown. An interesting application of secret VNs is that it would bepossible in some variations for them to store data without knowing thecontent (if both the block data and the block id itself were arrivedencrypted). This might have applications of its own. As a practicalmatter, technical issues such as data corruption or communicationlatency might be greater issues than wide spread fraud or collusion. Atrusted VN's long term business prospects would be placed in jeopardy byattempting to cheat the system, in the same way that various licensedprofessionals would lose their operating license for perpetrating asingle violating scheme. That said, another embodiment of a QLBCN wouldbe to dispense with all secret VNs and publish the identities in thepublic block. Another configuration would be to dispense with anycategories of VNs (representing different interests in a block), or todispense with any chains of VNs. Conceivably, one could obtain a trustminimized, distributed network by simply having a very large number ofVNs assigned to a block; and creating appropriate rules for assessingtheir responses to a verification query. For example, once most assignedVNs confirm a data set, with no negative responses, then the data isconsidered validated.

It is intrinsic to blockchain systems, that the older a block is in thepublic ledger uncontested, the more trustworthy. A QLBCN would operateon this same principle. New blocks can be linked or “entangled” with oldblocks by having the owner of a block exchange hidden keys with the VNsand or owners of previous blocks in the chain. This would preventsomeone from presenting a completely fake block (not showing up in theledger yet) and gaining validation through a set of fake VNs. A thoroughquery would validate the keys to the purported VNs of the new block—butalso those in the old parent block which are listed in the publicledger. Different levels of investigation might be carried out based onthe importance of the block and the intended interaction. For example,negotiations to purchase an item might begin with a simple query of oneor two levels of the blockchain, whereas consummation of a new blockshowing ownership transfer might require full validation back severallevels. Each network could create their own specifications for this.Naturally, in the event an entire chain of blocks was presented contraryto what was propagated (or two diverging versions of the public ledgerwere propagated) then a pre-established system of forensic investigationwould need to be carried out to correct the ledger.

Choice of VNs is an important concept in a QLBCN. If VN categories arebeing used to represent the interests of different parties, then thoseVNs might be selected by that party. These might be chosen randomlywithin a grouping of VNs that the party trusted. Generally, theassociation building the network would want to assign random VNs torepresent the public interest. It is also possible that all VNs for ablock would be completely random. The randomness adds a significantamount of security to the system. Ensuring that true randomness is inplay would be important in ensuring that an elaborate system of fraudwas not created by compromising the verification system itself. Manymechanisms could alleviate this concern. Third party entities couldexist to facilitate VN assignments if all parties acknowledged theirindependence. Each interested party could present a series of keys ornumbers that are then added together to appoint VNs (such that no partycould influence the outcome). The parties could agree to accept apublicly streamed data value at a specific future point (such as a stockticker or broadcasted stream from a random number generator). Thisproblem is certainly not unique to QLBCN, but ensuring that it isaddressed in network construction is important.

Over time, VNs might withdraw from a network or be removed. As describedabove, some embodiments of a QLBCN might call for changing VNs of aspecific block over time. This presents a problem in that public datafor a block must necessarily change. As to VNs simply leaving a network,this could be resolved by making a VN identity (or address) permanent.When a VN left, their identity would be assumed by a new entity. A morerobust solution would be for blocks in the public ledger to contain amulti-dimensional array showing the current VNs, as well as a fullhistory. This might include the timestamps of changeovers and detailchanges to the VN configuration (such as changing the length of a VNchain). Another embodiment would be to store the VN data in a network ofredundant centralized hubs that are recognized for independence. Such ahub might use an internal protocol like the one described above forQuantum Lock encryption hubs, whereby it would not be possible tocompromise the operating system via the Internet. Alternately, the VNdata could be stored in a distributed public ledger. Separation of thisledger from the regular blockchain ledger might be advantageous as theblocks in the regular ledger would not be changed (only added), whilethe VN ledger would be continually expanding even without the additionof new blocks.

A QLBCN must establish a mechanism for the dissemination (and correctionwhen necessary) of the public ledger. This process could resemblemethods used in current blockchain networks. Current blockchainstypically distribute the ledger without any security or use the sametype of asymmetric encryption that links the blocks. Ideally, a QLBCNmight choose to distribute the public ledger via Quantum Lock or another“post-quantum” cryptography method. This could help prevent temporarylocalized corruption of the ledger, and additionally allow for privateblockchain networks only accessible to a select group.

An additional security option that could be implemented to protectagainst false blocks (being presented as new blocks), would be to send abroadcast query to every single VN in the network. The real VNs of ablock would respond invalidating the credentials of the fake block(others would ignore it). The downside of this mechanism is that forlarge networks the volume of communication and computation would besignificant.

In yet another embodiment of a VN configuration, the VN chains wouldbranch out either through a prescribed pattern or randomly. Thebranching might decrease latency in the system as a larger number of VNscould be involved with fewer levels. A random branching pattern mightgive each configuration a unique signature like that of a snowflake. Ifthe unique VN configuration were communicated secretly with partiesrelated to prior blocks, this could serve as a rapid preliminary way ofconfirming a new blocks validity without checking exchanged keys betweenparties in the new and old blocks.

Another security feature that could be added to a QLBCN would be forcommunications by VNs or by all parties to be sent through ananonymizing hub. If a VN configuration involved hiding some VNidentities, this would prevent their unmasking through monitoring forcommunication traffic at the time when a large transaction was known tooccur. This would require a bad actor to use surveillance or wiretappingof some type. Another measure that could make it difficult to matchcommunications with known transactions, would be for all VNs to sendmessages only at specific time intervals.

The security of the public ledger could be enhanced by having designatednodes that help store and distribute the ledger. These nodes couldperform a verification query on all new blocks when they are receiving.Smaller nodes or users could place trust in ledger updates or copiesthat are cross checked against multiple nodes that have performedverification. Ledger nodes should cross validate their copies of theledger frequently with as many other nodes as possible, perhaps changingwho they check with at each validation. This will help uncovercorruptions to the ledger rapidly.

If there are multiple owners (or stakeholders) in a block, then keysfrom each would be held by the VNs. There might be complex rules forgetting approval from multiple block owners to perform an action (suchas creating a new block transferring ownership of an asset), or simpleunanimous approval may be required. For example, transferring a block ofcryptocurrency might simply involve verifying the identify of the blockowner through the secret keys, whereas issuing new stock in acorporation might require the approvals of most shareholders and certainkey officers. Part 3 describes a novel mechanism for organizing complexvalidation rules in the system.

A QLBCN will grant VNs different rights or roles, as stated earlier. Thepermissions needed for new block creation will be set as well. There maybe different rules for different types of blocks (or blocks representingdifferent types of data). Designated VNs given the rights to create newblocks would act as the intermediaries between the new and old blockowners and VNs. They would be tasked with ensuring that the rules ofblock creation and VN configuration are followed. After a new block iscreated, and all VNs and secret keys put in place—the block would bepushed out to the public ledger.

Many combinations of the different embodiments described above could beused to construct a QLBCN. The optimal configuration would depend on thenature of the application and operating environment. All configurationscontain the following advantages:

They cannot be compromised via brute force or quantum computation

Trust is not placed in the difficulty of a solving a single algorithm

Future mathematical or computational advances will not compromise thesystem

As with current blockchains, trust is not placed in a single authority

As with current blockchains, data is redundantly stored in publicledgers which are built over time

The history and chronology of data can be verified the same as incurrent blockchains

Data or asset values can be restored even if a single passcode or key islost

Security against fraud or hacking can be adjusted by the design of theVN configuration—the number of VNs, their independence and randomness,the secrecy of VN identities, and changing VNs all contribute toimproving security

The exchange of secret keys between parties related to a block withparties related to prior blocks in a chain, allows the transference oftrust over time like the way the hashing process works in currentblockchains

The ability to have VNs representing the interests of different partiesincorporates a time-tested legal paradigm into the world of blockchain

Part 3

QLBCN's can be extended to enable a whole new set of applications thatbroker privacy and information sharing. One of the greatest problems ofthe digital age is protecting personal data, while having the ability toeasily share it selectively as desired. Companies collect vast amountsof personal data in exchange for free services. A typical Americanhousehold may have all Internet traffic, physical travel, financialtransactions, phone conversations, email, and even personal discussionsin their home—recorded and analyzed to create an ever more accurateconsumer profile. In theory, this astonishing relinquishment of data isbeing managed by impersonal devices—but what guarantees are really inplace that this is always the case? Along these lines, academic ormedical institutions have legitimate needs to tabulate statisticalinformation and must try to do so without compromising individualprivacy. Auditing financial transactions or other types of actions isoften necessary for managing business relationships or ensuringregulatory compliances.

Four key extensions of QLBCN's permit all the above issues to beaddressed. The first is the concept of “Eigenblocks” and “Eigenfields”.An Eigenfield is a field of data in a QLBCN block that performs analgorithmic function on all or part of the general data in a block (forexample information on a car title being transferred, not block ids orVN addresses or other technical data needed to maintain the network).The concept is essentially borrowed from the Eigenfunction of quantummechanics which is used to parse out a specific characteristic of a wavefunction.

An example of an Eigenfield might be the fuel economy of a vehicle in acar title transfer QLBCN. Another example might be the debt to incomeratio of an individual. Still another might be whether someone had oneof 13 genes which created a high risk for a specific disease. Note thatin each of these examples a vast amount of unrelated data might becontained in the general block (such as a person's entire DNA sequence).Also note that many combinations of related data might exist to producethe value in the Eigenfield (such as the debt to income ratio)—and yetwould be unknown through the Eigenfield.

An Eigenfield might be based on an algorithm that is unchanging overtime, but it might also be time dependent—such that future blocks in achain with the same data might produce a different value in anEigenfield. An Eigenfield might also be based on data external to thecurrent block, and the algorithm might be referenced elsewhere, or datapoints used in the algorithm (such as what genes cause cancer) might bereferenced from elsewhere. Generally, it seems that if an algorithm foran Eigenfield changed, this data should be reflected in a new “cloned”block of the same data so that both operators on the data withtimestamps have a historic chronology recorded. However, an alternateembodiment might permit dynamic Eigenfields. Eigenfields would generallybe processed through the verification and OTP encryption process of theQLBCN the same as the other fields, but an alternate embodiment mightseparate them.

An Eigenblock is a block that performs the function of an Eigenfield onan entirely separate block, or a set of blocks. An Eigenblock might beused to aggregate data of a specific type into one place or used toperform statistical or computational analysis on a vast array of blocks.For example, an Eigenblock might list all the cars currently owned byBob's Car Dealership and show the block pointers for the specifictransactions. Another example would be to calculate the entire fueleconomy of the vehicles generated by XYZ Car Factory. This would permitrapid regulatory audit with the confidence provided by a blockchain withunbreakable encryption. Another example would be the total number ofindividuals with a cancer-causing gene, or a probability distributionmatrix relating death to the gene.

Since Eigenblocks and fields can associate more than one piece ofinformation, they could be linked together to form complex computationalnetworks such as “neural” networks or artificial intelligence. Both thememory of events and the memory of computation on the events can belocked into the QLBCN.

Eigenblocks might refer to a series of blocks that are static aftercreation, locked into place in the blockchain with a timestamp. It mightalso refer to blocks in the network that are not chained together butare updated continuously by a set of VNs for dynamic viewing.

The second important concept in the extension of QLBCN's is that ofencrypting data in a block in the public ledger and selectivelyreleasing the key to a party for all or part of the data. An examplemight be having one's entire DNA sequence in a block, scrambled by anOTP key. If the owner of the block wanted to let a medical facilityperform a test for a specific gene, they might release the portion(s) ofthe full key necessary to evaluate the locations of interest. They wouldonly have access to those areas, without being able to see anythingelse. They might also be given keys to specific Eigenfields in a block,or to all or part of an Eigenblock.

Permissions given for encrypted block data could be granted toEigenblocks, rescinded later, or have specific expirations. For example,someone participating in a university statistical study on age and caraccidents, might provide select key access to Eigenfields in their QLBCNfor auto information. The university might have an Eigenblockaggregating the data which automatically performs the calculations. Theuniversity could trust that they are seeing valid data related to theirstudy, and the participant could be assured that the university couldnot see other information like how much they pay for their cars.

The encryption keys scrambling the public ledger might be changedperiodically in the same way that VN keys are replaced. New keys wouldneed to be exchanged with legitimate parties—this could be managedautomatically. Changing the keys would guard against theft of keys inthe same way that changing your credit card number periodically thwartsfuture fraud.

An individual or organization could release information very selectivelyusing key management and Eigenblocks and fields. An interesting examplewould be for a company whose financial transactions are recorded viaQLBCN, to establish a system of permissions and Eigenfields—such that anEigenblock contains the matrix of data for SEC financial disclosures.Each transaction would be categorized and tabulated in real time—withthe full confidence level provided by the system.

A third key concept is that of “conditional block execution”. QLBCN'scould be constructed such that new block creation has conditionalscontrolled by Eigenfields and Eigenblocks (in addition to the standardkey exchanges by block owners and VNs). For example, imagine that afoundation stored its funds in a QLBCN crypto currency. The foundation'sconstitution only permits spending funds on relief work in Africa. Thecreation of a new block effecting funds transfer from the foundationmight require the recipient block owner to have a field operatordesignating it as related to African relief work. Eigenblocks and fieldscould also be tied to control of objects in the physical world.Conditional block execution allows for the creation of tightlycontrolled systems, where the rules can not be changed without properauthorization.

The fourth important concept in the extension of QLBCN's is that of an“Anonymizing Computation Block” or ACB. Imagine that a medical R&Dcompany spent billions of dollars developing a complex algorithm thatassigned someone a heart attack risk score based on their DNA sequenceand other information. They considered their algorithm to be a tradesecret. The algorithm requires analysis of significant amounts ofpersonal data that a consumer might not wish to disclose. An ACB couldact as a third-party intermediary performing the algorithm on aconsumer's data without having full access to either. The output of anACB could be recorded and timestamped in a QLBCN, allowing the output tobe viewed by other parties with credibility.

First the consumer and the medical company would exchange a protocol forscrambling the private data. It might first involve some form of baseanalysis to organize the data into a format. Then a random protocol forrearranging the storage of the data would be established. For example,the nucleotide at location 11 on the DNA strand might be stored atlocation 87 now, and the data from location 4 at 33. Every data addresswould be mapped to a new address via a completely random key. This wouldscramble the data such that the ACB owner could not realistically knowwhat it was looking at. An additional OTP XOR operation could beperformed on top of that potentially, to make it fully indecipherable.The protocol, address mapping, and decryption key (or combinationthereof) would be exchanged via Quantum Lock with the medical companyusing Eigenblocks in a QLBCN.

The medical company's Eigenblocks would take the secret key exchangedand revise its trade secret algorithm to account for the scrambling.This would then be sent to the third-party entity's ACB. The consumerwould grant the ACB permissions to the Eigenblock in their QLBCN holdingthe newly scrambled data. The ACB would be unable to see theindividual's data, and not knowing the format of the data—would havedifficulty deciphering the medical company's trade secret. The ACB wouldperform the algorithm on the data, and then return the score to themedical company and or the individual. As such, an ACB is a powerfultool for protecting the privacy of multiple parties whose data mustinteract to perform a computation.

Note that if too much data is returned by an algorithm given to anACB—it could compromise the privacy of the user data. For example, analgorithm returning a 500 bit output after operating on a 500 bitinput—might simply be unencrypting the data sent to the ACB. If the ACBsends the output to both parties, then the user can see that thealgorithm's output is limited to a simple score that protects theiroverall privacy. In some instances, a party might be concerned that theform of an algorithm is itself is a trade secret—even without knowingthe exact nature of the data inputs. This concern can be addressed bycreating an ACB chain where an algorithm is broken into multiple piecesand divided up between independently operated ACBs—much like a computerwould break up a computation between parallel processors. In thisembodiment, a protocol for breaking up the algorithm would be sent to aprimary ACB that would direct the interaction of other independent ACBs,who would each receive their portion of the algorithm independently viaQuantum Lock.

The four concepts described above significantly expand the capabilitiesof QLBCN's (or conceivably an alternate blockchain system). Newapplications will become possible for protecting privacy, selectivelysharing information, performing validations and analysis of secure data,and creating system environments that are tightly constrained by complexvalidation rules.

APPENDIX

Part 1:

The following is an example of a message sent through the Quantum Lockhub system.

Bob wishes to send the message gamma “Quantum Lock” to Alice, for whichin binary is: 01010001 01110101 01100001 01101110 01110100 0111010101101101 00100000 01001100 01101111 01100011 01101011

Alice's system address is 000010.

Bob has Key Serial Device 1010010100111 with 4000 bits of OTP cipher onit; he has used 1000 already.

The cipher alpha consists of bits 1001 through 1096 (the binary lengthof gamma) which is 0100110001101111 01100011 01101011 001000000101000101110101 01100001 01101110 01110100 01110101 01101101

The positions in binary are 1111101001 and 10001001000.

Bob XOR encrypts gamma with alpha producing (psi):111010001101000000010000001010101010000100100000110000100000100100010000110110001011000000110

Bob creates an id for message psi of 10111.

Bob sends psi (and its message id) to Alice over the public Internet (orvia physical delivery). Neither Alice nor any intercepting party candecrypt the message at this point.

Bob sends the following message to the hub (or hub network):1010010100111; 1111101001; 1111101001; 000010; 10111

Note that there the message protocol to the hub calls for fixed bitlengths for each field so that the hub knows how to delimit the sectionsof data.

The hub already has a copy of the KSD cipher (due to copy and physicaltransport) and can recreate alpha.

The hub sees that Alice has KSD 1010010100110 with no usage. It createscipher beta from bits 1 through 96 as follows:

01001100 01101111 01100011 01101011 01010001 01110101 01100001 0110111001110100 01110101 01101101 00110010

The hub XOR encrypts alpha with beta creating theta:

111000100100100000101000000111100011010000000010001100001011111

Bob's system address is 000011.

The hub sends the following message to Alice:

1010010100110; 0000000001; 0001100000; 000011; 10111;111000100100100000101000000111100011010000000010001100001011111

Alice recreates beta using the KSD serial and cipher positions.

Alice decrypts theta with beta to get alpha. She knows alpha willdecrypt message 10111 from Bob.

Alice decrypts psi with alpha and gets “Quantum Lock”.

Part 2:

The following example QLBCN block was provided earlier:

Block Network: 22579

Block ID: 2

Block Protocol: Version 5.1

Chain Status: Mid Chain

TimeStamp: 01/24/19 08:00 GMT

Prior Block: 1

Prior Block VNs: For Buyer—847292, For Seller—283382, For Association293820

Block Owner: 27382

Block VN: For Buyer—962145, For Seller—225497, For Association 328495

Next Block: 3

Next Block VNs: For Buyer—578213, For Seller—4456812, For Association2548

Data: “XYZ Car Factory transfers red SUV, serial 83729289, with odometer87 miles, to Bob's Car Dealership for $32,100.”

An example of one possible network configuration and the interactionwith a party confirming the validity of the block:

Bob's car dealership holds a series of secret OTP keys equal in lengthto the block. It holds one with each VN in each chain. There are 19 VNsin each of the three chains denoted as ChainName-VN-1,2,3 . . . 19. Akey held between the Block Owner (Bob's Dealership) and the first VN forthe Seller would be denoted as Cipher BlockOwner-ForSellerChainl-VN-1.The rules of the network require complete validation by every VN. Notethat as described above, some configurations might have many chainsallowing for some chains not to respond or might have a completelydifferent VN configuration. Note that as all communication is QuantumLocked, there is another layer of OTP keys that we are omitting forbrevity. Cross linkages to prior or future blocks are also omitted forbrevity.Smith's Accounting Service wants to verify the transaction in the block.It sends a message to Bob's Dealership requesting a composite XOR keyfor each chain. We'll denote this as ChainName-CompositeKey. Bob'sDealership sends back three keys, one for each chain.ForBuyerChain1-CompositeKey is equal to CipherBlockOwner-ForBuyerChain1-VN-1 XOR Cipher BlockOwner-ForBuyerChain1-VN-2XOR Cipher BlockOwner-ForBuyerChain1-VN-3 . . . XOR CipherBlockOwner-ForBuyerChain1-VN-19; the composite keys for the other chainsare calculated in the same manner.Smith's Accounting sends the block in question to each of publicly knownVNs listed in the block (that are the beginning of a VN chain.The VNs at the beginning of each chain XOR the block with theirrespective secret key held with the block owner and then send this on tothe next VN in the chain. The final VN (19) knows it is the end of thechain for that block, and sends the block encrypted via 19 XOR keys toSmith's Accounting.Note that as described above, some embodiments of VN configurations maycall for each VN to send their response back directly to the partymaking the query.Smith's Accounting then takes ForBuyerChain1-CompositeKey and performs aXOR encryption on the code coming back from ForBuyChainl. If it decryptsto the public block—then that means that chain has validated thatspecific block. If the other chains also validate it, then Smith'sAccounting can assume the block to describe a real transaction. If anyVN uses a corrupted key, then it will cause a mismatch with thecomposite key. Note that in many QLBCNs, protocols would exist to make adecision if conflicting “votes” are returned by the VNs or VN chains.All keys held between the VNs and the block owner (and potentiallybetween other VNs and other blocks) would be replaced immediately afterthe query. This could be done by incrementing to a new portion of alarge cipher.Note that because communication in the system uses Quantum Lock OTP, andthe block ciphers are based on OTP—it is not possible to use brute forceor quantum computation to compromise the system. Given a significantnumber of VNs and blocks of any length—the chances of randomly stumblingon a block owner's ciphers are almost infinitely small. Likewise, thenumber and configuration of the VNs can guard against collusion,hacking, or coercion by a bad actor.Part 3:The following are examples of simple Eigenfields. Unrelated block fieldsare omitted for brevity.Block: 837Data: ACGTAACTG . . . GACTEigenfield 8 (presence of cancer gene 73): PositiveBlock: 8172Data: Debt—$17,281; Annual Income—$71,738; Assets—$351,002Eigenfield 2 (Debt to Income Ratio): 24%The following is an example of an Eigenfield that pulls its algorithmfrom another block:Block: 17Data: Name—John Smith; Age—27; Accidents—4; Ticket Points—3Eigenfield 9 (Auto Insurance Risk Score): Pointer-Block 13; Score 102Block: 13Data: Eigenfield 9 Algorithm−(80-Age)+Accidents*10+Points*3The following are examples of Eigenblocks:Block: 36Data: This block calculates the average height of subjects in a samplepopulation group denoted by Eigenfield 11 set to 1. Average height 5′6″.Block: 1Data: Name—Jane Doe; Weight—110; Height 5′0″Eigenfield 11: 0Block: 2Data: Name—John Doe; Weight—210; Height 6′0″Eigenfield 11: 1Block: 3Data: Name—Jane Smith; Weight—100; Height 5′0″Eigenfield 11: 1The following is an example of scrambling the data in a public ledgerblock and selectively releasing the OTP cipher key to protect privacy:Block: 8Data: John Smith; Financial History—10110111011101101010110101;Employment History—1011100001011101011101001; MedicalHistory—0110111010100101111100Parties with access to the public ledger might be able to see portionsof the blocks, and can place faith in the construction of the networkand its verifier configurations, but can not see scrambled portions ofthe data.If John Smith wants to release his financial history to a bank, but notthe medical or employment data—he would send the following cipher(specific to the financial portion):100100001101010011010000101110111011101110100010000100This XOR decodes to:100100001101010011010000101100001100110011001000110001 which in text is$54,321.The cipher might be sent directly, or a VN representing John Smith mightsend it to the bank or their VN representative. The cipher might bevalid for a part of a single block or provide access to all or portionsof a series of blocks related to the data of interest. In someembodiments, the ciphers would be changed following a release of data.The following is an example of Conditional Block Execution:Block: 1Data: African Relief Trust cryptocurrency fund balance is $1.7 M.Conditional Rules: Funds transfer must be to QLBCN recipients withEigenfield 98 value of 1 denoting their involvement in African reliefwork.African Relief Trust attempts to transfer $0.4 M to an Asian orphanagewhose Eigenfield 98 value is 0. The block creation VNs are unable toprocess the transaction because of the conditional rules.Then they attempt to transfer $0.6 M to a Nigerian orphanage whoseEigenfield 98 value is 1. The VNs are able to process this, and createnew blocks showing the cryptocurrency transaction to the orphanage andAfrican Relief Trust's remaining $1.1 M.The following is an example of Anonymizing Computational Blocks:Consumer Jane Doe's purchase history is stored in a QLBCN. An Eigenblocksummarizes the vacation purchases for the last year into simplecategories. The Eigenblock algorithm might be sent over by a third partyor be basic to the QLBCN.Block: 63Data: Jane Doe purchase history categorizations for 2018; Total ThemeParkExpenditures=$4,000; Total Cruise Expenditures=$3,000; Total Non-CruiseTravelExpenditures=$14,000Cruise Marketers Inc wants to determine if it would be worthwhile tosend Jane Doe advertising for cruises. She does not want to release herspecific purchase history, and the firm does not want anyone to knowtheir secret algorithm for finding target customers.Cruise Marketers sends Jane Doe (or VNs representing her) a datascramble map: Map field 1 to 3, 2 to 1, and 3 to 2.Jane Doe scrambles the data fields so they are now $3,000; $14,000;$4,000. She is instructed to send these to the ACB run by AnonymousComputation Inc.Cruise Marketers sends the ACB this algorithm:If field 3<5,000 and If field 1<8,000, and if field 2>10,000The ACB performs the calculation and returns a 1 meaning that Jane Doeis a good marketing target. The ACB does not know what the data fieldsare and might not even know what the purpose of the computation is.Multiple ACBs could be used if more secrecy is required regarding theform of the algorithm. All communications are transmitted using QuantumLock to maintain secrecy. Jane Doe has maintained her privacy, CruiseMarketer's trade secret is protected, and yet the two parties havecompleted an important economic transaction.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of linking a growing list ofrecords, comprising the steps of: (a) defining blocks of information(blocks containing block data) with lengths having fields forverification entities (verifier nodes or VNs), one or more of theentities being responsible for ownership of the information (blockowners), and wherein each block includes a unique block ID, and IDs forone or more other blocks (linked blocks); (b) establishing a system (thenetwork) to oversee the interaction of the blocks and the designationand dissemination of trusted blocks in archives (the ledger versions);(c) secretly exchanging, by the block owners, an OTP verification keyhaving a length equal to that of the block, with each VN being assignedto that block; (d) verifying the authenticity of the information in ablock and its owner or owners (authentication request), and wherein theauthentication request is performed by a network user (the query sender)sending a query to a block owner requesting the verification keys forthat block corresponding to each VN; (e) transmitting, by the blockowner, the verification keys for that block corresponding to each VN tothe query sender; (f) sending a message by the query sender to the VNsassigned to the block requesting their copy of the block data encryptedwith the corresponding verification key; (g) sending the encrypted blockdata requested in (f) from each VN to the query sender; (h) decrypting,by the query sender, the encrypted block data sent by each VN in (g)using the corresponding verification key from the block owner; and (i)wherein, if all decrypted block data in (h) matches the ledger versionsof a block, confirming the authenticity of the block data and the blockowner.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the verification keys areobtained from a Key Storage Device (KSD).
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the verification keys are replaced after each use.
 4. The methodof claim 1, wherein the verification keys exchanged by the block owners,and the VNs are replaced in accordance with a time schedule.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the VNs are arranged into one or moresequential chains (VN chains).
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the VNchains are organized into groups representing the interests of aspecific party involved in placing information into a block includingfinancial, contractual, or historical data; or representing theinterests of the general public relative to a block; or representing theblockchain network for purposes of authenticity.
 7. The method of claim1, wherein all or part of the VNs for a block are changed after eachauthentication request, a specified number of requests, a time frame, orupon creation of a new block linked to the block of a VN.
 8. The methodof claim 1, wherein unanimous agreement is required to verify theaccuracy or ownership of a block, or to create a new block, or totransfer ownership of a block through one or more of the following: VNsand block owners completing an authentication request, a percentagethreshold of agreement, or an algorithm giving some VNs more votingstrength than others.
 9. The method of claim 5, wherein: (a) averification request is sent to a first VN in each VN chain; (b) thefirst VN performs an XOR operation on the data in the block with thesecret verification key shared with the block owner; (c) the first VNtransmits the encrypted block data in (b) to the next VN in the VN chainfor re-encryption with the verification key of the next VN and so on;(d) a final VN responds to the query sender with encrypted block data;(e) the block owner sends a composite XOR key created from each of theindividual verification keys for a specific chain; (f) query sender thendecrypts the response from the VN using the composite XOR key; (g) thequery sender decrypts the response from the final VN with the compositeXOR key, and comparing this to the data in the ledger, thereby eitherconfirming the authenticity of the block owner and the data, orindicating data corruption or fraud.
 10. The method of claim 5, whereinonly the first and last VN in a VN chain are identified in a block, andintermediate VNs are known only to the block owner and preceding or nextVN in the VN chain.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the block dataincludes one or more of: a timestamp; pointers to the prior block andits VNs; pointers to the next block and its VNs; designation as a blockwith no prior linkages (genesis block) or a block that cannot be linkedto further (terminus block); and wherein one or more fields containingrecords unrelated to the structure of the block are stored in the block.12. The method of claim 5, wherein: VNs are assigned rights in creatingblocks, responding to authentication requests, or transferring blockownership, and for performing functions related to acceptance, storage,maintenance, and dissemination of the ledger; and the VNs arecompensated financially for performing the above steps.
 13. The methodof claim 1, wherein a block points to multiple new blocks having agreater timestamp, or links to multiple prior blocks having a lowertimestamp.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the network creates aprotocol block containing the following information: (a) rules for thedata format of blocks and the creation of new blocks; (b) a method forassigning VNs; (c) the rights and interaction of VNs, block owners, andquery senders; (d) the structure of VN chains; (e) compensation,communication protocols, and technical error handling; (f) rules forcreating genesis and terminus blocks; and (g) descriptions of changes to(a) through (f) that are valid for specific time frames.
 15. The methodof claim 1, wherein: (a) the block owners or VNs for a block (thecurrent block), exchange verification keys with the VNs or the blockowners of one or more linked blocks, including blocks linked to linkedblocks, in addition to the VNs assigned to the current block; and (b)the VNs and block owners of (a) are treated as VNs of the current block,and either each interact directly with the query sender or are groupedinto VN chains.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein: (a) VNs exchangeverification keys with other VNs; (b) when responding to anauthentication request, the VNs encrypt block data with the verificationkeys held with the block owner as well as each VN before sending to thenext VN in the chain; (c) the VNs individually send the encrypted blockdata to the query sender along with the composite XOR of allverification keys held with other VNs; (d) the query senderauthenticates the legitimacy of the VNs by confirming the composite XORof the returned composite XOR keys is equal to nullity; (e) the querysender confirms the block authenticity and ownership by confirming theencrypted block data (returned from each VN) can be decrypted by thecorresponding owner verification key for a VN resulting in the ledgerversion of a block.
 17. The method of claim 1, wherein all sending andtransmitting steps are performed using the steps of: a) providing acomputer network including at least one hub in electronic communicationwith a message sender and a message receiver; b) generating and storinga random, one-time-pad (OTP) cipher at the hub; c) generating, storingand physically distributing a first unique subset of the OTP cipher to amessage sender; d) generating, storing and physically distributing asecond unique subset of the OTP cipher to a message receiver; e)electronically sending, from the message sender to the hub, key metadataat least identifying the message receiver and information identifying aunique portion (alpha) of the first unique subset; f) performing thefollowing operations at the hub: i) identifying alpha based upon the keymetadata received from the message sender, ii) generating a uniquecipher (beta) by selecting a unique portion of the second unique subsetof the OTP cipher based on alpha, iii) encrypting alpha with beta togenerate an encrypted decryption key, and iv) electronically sending theencrypted decryption key from the hub to the message receiver along withdecrypt metadata at least identifying beta and the message sender; g)encrypting a message at the message sender using alpha; h) sending theencrypted message directly from the message sender to the messagereceiver; and i) performing the following operations at the messagereceiver: i) uncovering beta using the decrypt metadata provided by thehub, ii) decrypting the encrypted decryption key using beta, anddecrypting the message from the sender using the decrypted key (alpha).